Now then, since we’ve finaly clarified some key aspects of my personality, let’s talk about more interesting things. Like my birthday. And the pictures that come with it:

It was exactly midnight when I received my first birthday card. Mom had been waiting until she could wish me happy birthday to go take a shower (yes, she showers at night. Late in the night, usually). The card was like this:

Mom found a card that managed to name all my qualities

And like this in the inside:

From left to right: Uncle Tintin, Uncle David, João, Me, Manuela, Aunt Cris, Mom and Bruna, the cat =D

After that, mom got her shower and I phoned my cousin Maria because we had been speaking on MSN all the way until midnight. I spoke to her, to Uncle Paulo and to Aunt Jane and even heard Guille’s (the dog) footsteps. They wished me happy birthday and all that, and in the end I went to bed past two in the morning.

Now, before I carry on with the things that happened while I was awake, I want to show you something quite interesting (or crazy or ridicule, depending on your point of view): here are the ballons of my last year’s birthday. They’ve survived the whole year in that wall (and in fact are still there because I’m too lazy to put the new ones in their place). I think their endurance needs to be acknowledged.  

Yes, the ballons and the banner had been part of my bedroom's decoration for one whole year. It is like everyday is my birthday... =DD

And moving on now, beucase most of you are probably like mom and are ashamed that someone out there has left ballons hanging from his wall for the last 373 days. So, I woke up pretty late because I went to bed late and because I had no classes early in the morning (I only had a class at 3pm). I then posted the last chapter of Beyblade 2 and had lunch. And because I’m a freak, I took pictures of my very gourmet lunch. Take a look:

This is a cheese and onion bread topped with cream cheese and dutch cheese, plus a strawbery yogurt. It tastes better if the bread is warm. It makes the dutch cheese "swet" =D

And then I went to uni to “Life under the Nazis”. I would’ve been a lecture like any other, but because it was my birthday it wasn’t so. The room was too crowded when I arrived, and there were two people standing in front of the students. One of them was my teacher, the other guy I didn’t know. And then they told us someone had messed up with their room booking and so our History class and some Law class ended up in the same room at the same time.

In the end the Law lecture was cancelled and we had half a lecture because it was already past 3:30 when Mrs. Pattinson was finally able to begin. At least I had already read the book so I knew the things she was talking about.

Then I met Tiane in Buchanan Galleries. She had come specially to celebrate my birthday with me (and to hand in her dissertation, but that isn’t all that important now – sorry Tiane… =D). We stayed in Buchanan Galleries (which is the closest thing to a shopping centre I’ve ever seen in Glasgow) until 6:30, when we headed to Ichiban, the Japanese restaurant Tiane, mom, Diane and I would meet to celebrate this very special day.

I'm the world's best birthday boy, according to the little planet in my chest =D

This is me in Buchanan Gallery.

Smile! Smile! And say "cheese!" =DDD

And this is my loyal companion Tiane Graziotin!

So, then, after that we all met at Ichiban. Mom was very happy because she had just been given the keys to her new room (see how my birthday always makes everything special?). And here she is, very pleased with and proud of herself:

Happy mom is happy =D

When Diane arrived (she was the last one to get there) we all got busy taking pictures of each other. Here are some of them:

The hat was one of my birthday presents. It will hopefully be useul when winter arrives.

the "crowd". "Me" is the photographer, obviously

And I also took pictures of the restaurant because it was a very nice place. It had all these Japanese stuff arranged in the corner, like:

Plastic sushi! =DD

The banner says something like "Of a thousand clients, ten thousand return"

And…

Hello Kitty in kimono!! =DDD

But of course, the restaurant was not just decoration. For example, here is the ramen I ordered:

Ichiban ramen! Vitor, someday I'll take you there!

And here is me eating the ramen:

Hum... tasty! n.n

And here is what was left of it once I was done:

Yep, that was indeed tasty!

After we’d eaten all we could, Tiane asked for a “floral tea”. I’d never seen one of those before:

Ignore mom in the background, it is the FLOWER IN THE GLASS that matters! =D

And so, after this very interesting experience in the Japanese restaurant we all came to my house to eat cake, blow candles and celebrate a bit more before midnight. However, not everything wnet according to plan. The candles mom bought were those that never go off, and after I had tried to blow them a few hundred times she kinda panicked about sparkles and fire in the carpet and we ended up throwing the candles in a jar with water.

It was really fun! But my pride was hurt when I wasn’t able to blow even a single candle out. i.i

And the pictures (this time taken by Tiane because I was busy trying to blow the damn candles):

Here the candles are still behaving nicelly...

... but then they refused to give in to my awesome blowing power...

... and in the end out flat was covered in smoke! =D

We had to close the doors because of the smoke detector…

Candles in the jar! It was mom's idea...

When all that chaos was over and the smoke had cleared, we were finally able to eat the cake:

Cute little cake smeared with candle wax... =DD

Half an hour later I had eaten half the cake all by myself! =D

And then we had the dessert of the dessert: the austronaut ice cream I bought when I went to NY in 2007 but had never opened because… really, I don’t know why I hand’t eaten that stuff yet.

Here is how they do the ice cream for people who go to space:

Big picture so that everyone can read!

And here is the ice cream:

Amazingly, it tastes just like normal ice cream, just a bit drier and, obviously, not cold. =D

Diane went home at around 11pm. Her taxi driver got lost and took ages to get here. That means I got to spend more time with her, but also that she got home later than she intended. Sorry, Diane.

All in all, I had lots of fun. It was long day, and I enjoyed every bit of it. However, for all that celebration it didn’t feel like I was turning 20. I felt like I was turning… 16 maybe? I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m 20 years old and I certanly don’t act like a 20 year-old. With December getting nearer and nearer (that is, one year since I did the Deee Poll) I can’t help but think that part of the reason for it is that I’m sort of waiting for my “puberty” to come, waiting for the moment my body will develop the way it was supposed to for me to finally grow up. It may look like a twisted way of thinking for some people, but I’ve feeling like this for some time now.

Now that my birthday has passed, I have a whole lot of things to look foward to: there is karate, the Writer’s Society, the Concert Band, the exams (?), and of course the T injections. With all of those things happening now, I feel that this year will be better than the last two. I hope I’ll be more social and make more friends, I’m now building the confidence to show my true self to the people I meet, trying to dominate the fears that have so far kept me from making those great, lasting friendships everyone has during their time at uni.

I like the fact that here my birthday coincides with the beginning of the term. It gives me twice the motivation to go for the things I want. This year is going to be special. If not because of the new things I’m doing and the new people I’m meeting, then at least because I’m 20. 

And just one more picture to close this post while we are still in that “dramatic/touching” moment:

Me, the 20 year-old Russian Revolutionary

 Fin!

Here is an apetiser:

Yep, there is a flower in the tea. =D

See you later!

My birthday is in less than 2 hours, so I thought I should post something here. And then, of course, some silly comment after midnight.

Today I had American Politics and Research Methods for Political Scientists. The teacher is the same for both subjects and he is very nice (thought the subjects are terribly booooooooring). Then I spent four hours in the library working on my new story about nordic scandinavians (more on it when I actually write my first chapter), and then I went to meet Nic and get him to the Transmen Scotland meeting.

THe meeting was fun, I talked more today then I did for the whole last week, and I’m looking forward for the time I’ll lie down in my bed (already as a 20 year-old).

Due to my tiredness, I panicked when I was getting out of the train in my way back home. I thought I had forgotten my drawing notebook in there and tried to get back, but the train was gone. Then I realised I had put the drawing notebook in my bag and it was safe. A man that had been sitting in front of me in the train saw what had happened and we chatted all the way to Morrisons. He was a nice guy and told me this sort of thing had happened to him a few times. He was from Nigeria. That was cool. =D

After that I got home and had an explosive diarrhoea, but you probably don’t want to know about that. >.<

And that is it. That was my September 30th. In 24 hours I might put here my October 1st as well.

See you then!

So, now that I’m a bit too anxious to go to bed, I’ve decided it was a good idea to finally update this blog. Those are the things going on in my life at the moment:

First of all, I haven’t managed to write the extra bit of Beyblade 2 yet, nor have I finished my notebook covers for this term. I’M SUCH A FAILURE!

In my defense I have to say that the fact that I didn’t find the proper materias to make the covers sort of cut my enthusiasm for them, and that writing wasn’t exactly in my mind until today, when I posted chapter 43 and Yuriy’s birthday fic (which I also wrote today. See how inspiration strikes at the most random moments?).

Second, I’ve decided to go to a few uni clubs this year. Now that my knee is not in imediate danger of collapsing, I’m back at football (in the MALE team, people! YES! YES! M-A-L-E ! No “fe” attached! My dream has finally come true!!=DDDD) and I’ll also start karate. I hope that the martial art will improve my reflexes as well as build the muscle strenght my knee needs. And then there is the Writer’s Society, the LGBT group and the University band. My weeks will be pretty full now, but at least I hope all those activities will turn me into a more sociable being.

And then, finally, this weekend I was at a residential that was part of the Speak OUT course on LGBT activism. From Friday to Sunday I learned a few useful tips on how to become an activist and made a few good friends. We now have to organize an event to take place next year. It will be exciting!

I took a few pictures of the place, but I haven’t managed to put them on my computer yet. Maybe someday I’ll show you guys the hotel we were in, it was a pretty nice place even though my room was almost like a cupbord.

I also want to do some voluntary work for Equality Network. It is the beginning of what I hope will become a carrier once my student visa expires and I can get a proper job.

So, I have lots of plans and lots of expectations for the next year. I don’t know how many of them will actually go forward, but I hope I won’t have to give up on anyof them. I still have to study and get good grades after all… >.<

And Bruna will say goodbye to you because I miss her!

She is not a cat, she is a miniature black panther!

Bye bye!

I’m very happy to be with you today. TOday is a magic day, you see. But before we talk about today, let’s talk about the past few days in which I didn’t update this blog. We can save the best for later, right?

So, on September first I sat down to write chapter 43. It went pretty well, there were only 6 pages and I loved writing Zeus and the six bit-beasts in the same beyblade. It was fun and quick. I listened to quite a few songs, so I wont write them down (I’m too lazy XD)

Yesterday I started writing chapter 44, the LAST one before the extra bit (though I’m quite keen on ignoring this extra in the name of a good dramatic performace and to add enphasis on the fact that it was the LAST) . I knew it would be long, last chapters are always long because you have to tie all loose ends and make sure all characters are happy and that life is going to be good from then on. The last chapter of part one had 23 pages of story and 7 of off-talk.

Yesterday I gave up writing the chapter when I was in page 13. I was too tired and too hungry. So I went to my room, played clarinet and read the whole “Bandeiras que contam histórias” (Flags that Tell Stories/History), a book I bought a while ago. It was an interesting read, the book wasn’t that big.

So today I got up at eight, but thought it was too early and slept again until nine-thirty. It was almost eleven when I actualy left the bed. Then I re-read all I had written today and went to the kitchen to have my breakfast/lunch. And only then I started writing the rest of the chapter.

AND IT WAS OVER AT 17:08!!! Ò.Ó

To write this chapter, I listened to a lot of songs. There was a scene involving a love triangle between the Russians in which I listened to “CAn you feel the love tonight” (yes, from the Lion King) in Russian. Then I put a song I consider to be a character’s theme during his scene, and I listened to Autum and Spring of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and also to Himura Kenshin’s theme (from Rurouni Kenshin). That was mainly it.

AND SO IT IS ALL OVER NOW!! ALL OVER!!! (almost)

I’m out to celebrate! See you soon!

Jamie

The first (and so far only) cover I made for the series. Clock-wise from the top left: TOshihiro, Rumiko, Ken and Koichi, four of the six main heroes! XD

Well, at least it is over now, and I don’t think the chapter is all that bad.

I thought about giving up and continuing tomorrow a few times, but went ahead because I have more 6 pages waiting for me there.

Oh, dear, at least I’m in the right direction now, and I’ll hopefully finish everything on time.

Tomorrow I’ll also post chapter 39. I think I’ll have to do a lot of revising as well, which might compromise my plans. Let’s see.

And if you think the writing style in this post is weird is because I’m tired, I haven’t had lunch yet and I can’t stand being in front of the computer anymore.

So until next time!

Yesterday I posted chap. 38 as planned, but I spent so much time revising it and making it close to perfection (according to a reviewer, the best part of the chapter was when the boy that had turned into a sort of blue mermaid – don’t ask – said “‘I’m not ugly, I’m fashionable” (não sou feio, sou fashion) or something like that. This bit was added during the revision and sent said reviewer in a long-lasting fit of laughter =D) that I didn’t have time to write anything else.

Oh, well, today mom left us to go to São Paulo. TOmorrow she is going back to Glasgow. I woke up at 8am and went to the kitchen with my laptop so that I could write something before everyone woke up. Chapter 41 was done by 10:30, and mom left at 11am. How amazing is that?

Well, the chapter had only 5 pages…

The next two chapters are the final battle. They will be loooong, I might not be able to do everything in one day (unless I wake up at seven tomorrow and the day after). And then there is this extra part, which I hope will be four chapters in all, or maybe five. We will see. And so there are only 7 chapters to go and I have more 9 days here!

Also, today it is the Botafogo x Grêmio game for the Brazilian football championship. I support Grêmio, everyone else support Botafogo. It will be war! XDD

Until next time!

So far everything is going according to plan. I wrote chapter 40 today while listening to Vivaldi’s Concerto “La Tempesta di Mare”. It didn’t turn out as good as I was expecting, but hopefully by the time I get to revise it to post in fanfiction.net I’ll have a few more ideas to make it better.

Tomorrow I don’t think I’ll be able to write anything because I’m going out with my cousin Joana again. In the afternoon I’ll hopefully play some football with my other cousin Tomaz. And after that I’ll post chapter 38.

Now there are only 4 chapters left, plus the extras. I’m leaving Rio in the 9th of September. I think there will be enough time to write it all (and also to draw all the notebooks covers for next term).

I’m out! it is time to eat some hot dogs! *cheers in the background for the hot dogs*

And I’ll leave you with the drawing I mentioned last post (the one of Gunni and Siggi playing). I don’t consider it complete because I need a decent pencil sharpner to make the finishing touches, but it is not sooo bad I hope…

My first time trying to draw a cello and a (parcial) violin. It could've been worse... XDDD

Bye bye!

So, here is how things are going in my attempt at writing all the remaining Beyblade 2 chapters while still in Rio de Janeiro:

- I wrote chapter 38 on Sunday. Didn’t like it very much, but at least I had a chapter. Then I tried to draw Gunni and SIggi form “The Orchestra” playing their instruments to use as one of my notebook’s cover and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

- I tried to write chapter 39 on Monday, but because I could only think about painting the drawing I had done in the day before I put the computer down and grabbed the colour-pencils.

- I tried to write again on Tuesday, but my cousin wanted to take me to the hair-dresser in the morning. I can only write in the morning for some reason. I feel really tired in the afternoon and all my attempts at writing end up… well, they don’t end because I don’t even start. The worst part was that I didn’t go to the hairdresser that day, because my cousin said she had others things to do and I lost my morning doing nothing.

- So we ended up going there yesterday (yes, I got a hair cut. Pictures later). WHich means I didn’t write anything yesterday either. Well, actually I did, since I posted chapter 37. I wrote the off-talk, which is the bit after the chapters where all characters go crazy (or crazier than they already are in some cases) and do lots of crazy stuff. In chapter 37 they dressed as Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya and tried to save the off-talk from the bit-beast with incendiary tendencies. 

- But TODAY I finally did something really useful! Chapter 39 has just been written and is not as bad as it could’ve been!

So this is my update. Now I’ll read chapter 40 so that I can think of the things I’ll have to change during the re-writing process and then I’ll see if today I get inspired enough to write something in the afternoon.

Oh, yeah, and on an interesting note, I would like to say that I enjoy listening to classical music as I write. I get one song and play it over and over again for each chapter. For chapter 38 it was Karjalan Kunnaila, a very beautiful Finnish folk song, and for today’s chapter it was Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz.

And here is my cat, ’cause she is cute and she is living here with my uncle because we can’t take her to Glasgow! T.T

Aw.... cutie, cutie, cutie *pets her head* *she runs away annoyed and won't talk to me for an hour*

See you soon!

Life’s being good, thank you.

Now that I’m in Rio de Janeiro (yes, that very turistic spot with the Christ and all that. Unfortunatelly the weather has been awful since Thursday) I proposed a challenge to myself (and my aunt helped with some “motivation” – she said that if I wanted to write I had had to write, and finish my projects instead of create new ones every week…): I’ll finish Beyblade 2 – Chikara wa Kimi no Naka ni Aru!! before the end of my holidays here. Finish writing, that is, because the posting will take a while.

It is going to be like what I did in 2007 to finish Beyblade 2 – Os Antecessores, which is the first part of that “epic” (and there is a third to come still). I wrote the last… 20 chapters I think… in the weeks right before the beginning of my first year at uni. I could only think about it, I was so excited about it, and when it was finally done I felt so good…

That is what I’m aiming at now.

So, so far I’ve writting three chapter of the remaining ten-ish. THe story goes to chapter 45, but there is an extra bit that is the story of some of the characters. That bit will probably be divided in four parts. I don’t really know yet. So there will be around 50 chapters in all.

Chapter 35, Sinta a nossa força! Os Soldier of Russia lutam em equipe! (“Feel our strenght! The Soldier of Russia fight as a team!), was by biggest problem. I had been trying to write it since March, but I couldn’t write more than a few pages everytime I tried. So I updated the chapters in parts in June, July and I was able to finally finish it here after talking to my aunt about motivations and goals for the future. That was the first one “done”.

Then I wrote chapter 36, took two days “off” my obligations and yesterday finished chapter 37. That chapter got me really excited to write 38. Which is what I’m going to do as soon as I finish this post.

From now on I’ll make a diary about the end of Beyblade 2. Let’s see if I will be able to “win” that challenge!

Jamie  

PS: Birthday posts will re-start once the challenge is finished, or when I feel like it. Because there are just too many birthdays ignored so far, I won’t make posts about them anymore. Not that I think you guys would mind that… =D